In Re FCX, Inc.

54 B.R. 833, 1985 Bankr. LEXIS 4980
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, E.D. North Carolina
DecidedNovember 14, 1985
Docket19-01871
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 54 B.R. 833 (In Re FCX, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, E.D. North Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re FCX, Inc., 54 B.R. 833, 1985 Bankr. LEXIS 4980 (N.C. 1985).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

A. THOMAS SMALL, Bankruptcy Judge.

The matters before the court are the objections filed by the Unsecured Creditors’ Committee (“Committee”), Texasgulf Chemicals. Company, Inc., (“Texasgulf”) and Willis Hill to the Stipulation Regarding Use of Cash Collateral and Granting of Liens (“Stipulation,” approved ex parte by the court on September 18,1985) and to the Debtor in Possession Loan Agreement (“Loan Agreement,” approved by the court on September 23, 1985, after notice and a hearing). The hearing to consider the objections was held in Raleigh, North Carolina on October 24, 1985; notice of the hearing was given to all of the debtor’s creditors and parties in interest. The court withheld ruling pending negotiations between the parties.

BACKGROUND

FCX, Inc., a North Carolina farmers’ purchasing and marketing cooperative, is a debtor in possession (11 U.S.C. § 1101(1)) having filed a voluntary petition under chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code on September 17, 1985.

Shortly after filing its petition on September 17, 1985, the debtor and Columbia Bank for Cooperatives (“Bank”), the debt- or’s primary lender with a lien on virtually all of the debtor’s assets, entered into a “Stipulation Regarding Use of Cash Collateral and Granting of Liens.” This stipulation, which was approved ex parte by the court on September 18, 1985, permitted the debtor to use $400,000 of the Bank’s “cash collateral” to purchase ingredients for feed necessary for the protection and preservation of poultry (1,200,000 laying hens) and livestock (10,000 feeder pigs) owned by the debtor. The Committee objects to the provisions of the stipulation which:

(i) confirm the amount of the Bank’s pre-petition claim, (ii) waive any “defense, offset, claim, counterclaim or deduction of any kind or nature whatsoever” of the debtor with respect thereto, (iii) establish the existence, perfection, and priority of the Bank’s lien upon the assets of the debtor at the time of the filing of this case, (iv) cross-collateralize the pre-petition and post-petition indebtedness of the debtor to the Bank, (v) limit the payment of costs of administration in this case, and (vi) authorize an automatic lifting of the stay upon the occurrence of certain events without notice and a hearing.

On the afternoon of September 18, 1985, counsel for the debtor and counsel for the Bank appeared before the court at an ex parte hearing to present the outline of a debtor in possession financing arrangement. At the hearing, counsel represented to the court that an emergency situation existed, and that circumstances required *837 immediate action before creditors could be notified. The essence of the debtor’s and the Bank’s presentation was that unless the debtor in possession’s financing arrangement was approved, FCX would have to close its doors and its assets would greatly deteriorate in value to the detriment of creditors.

The Bank, which already had a lien on all of the debtor’s assets, was willing to provide “requirements” financing for the debt- or’s operations for sixty days in an amount not to exceed $40 million. The Loan Agreement provides that the postpetition loan will be secured by a first lien on all of the debtor’s assets, and that the postpetition financing should have the super priority provided by 11 U.S.C. § 364(c)(1). The agreement also provides for the cross-col-lateralization of both prepetition and post-petition loans, the addition of interest, costs, and attorney’s fees to the total indebtedness, automatic lifting of the stay upon default “within 10 days notice,” and concessions that (i) the prepetition loan balance of $57,912,696.86 is correct, (ii) the prepetition lien is properly perfected, and (iii) the debtor has no “setoff, deduction, defense or counterclaim” to the Bank’s pre-petition indebtedness.

At the ex parte hearing on September 18, 1985, counsel for the Bank advised the court that the Bank was willing to immediately make advances under the Loan Agreement upon the verbal approval of the Loan Agreement by the bankruptcy court. The Bank further suggested that telephonic notice be given to the 20 largest creditors, and a hearing be held to consider the Loan Agreement on September 23, 1985, to be followed by notice to all creditors, and if objections were filed, a hearing on October 24, 1985. Counsel for the Bank stated that if objections were filed, they would be dealt with at that time.

Based upon the representations of counsel for the debtor and counsel for the Bank, the court indicated from the bench on September 18, 1985, that it would approve the financing arrangement between the Bank and FCX, subject to notice being given to the creditors holding the largest twenty unsecured claims and a hearing on September 23, 1985, and subject further to notice to all creditors and a possible hearing on October 24, 1985.

Telephonic and mailgram notice of the hearing on September 23, 1985, was in fact given to the 30 largest unsecured creditors. An order appointing the Unsecured Creditors’ Committee was entered on September 19, 1985, but the Committee had not been organized prior to September 23, 1985. Nevertheless, counsel for three unsecured creditors, Vertac Chemical Corporation, (“Vertac”), Holland Flower Bulb Specialists, and Texasgulf, were present at the hearing and noted appearances. Vertac and Texasgulf are members of the Creditors’ Committee.

At both the start and conclusion of the hearing, counsel for Vertac indicated that Vertac did not oppose postpetition financing, but was reserving the right to object and be heard at the subsequent hearing on notice to all creditors. Counsel for the Bank made it clear that the Bank would not advance funds if the liens on all the debt- or’s assets securing those advances could be invalidated. It was also clear that all creditors would be notified and given the opportunity to object to the terms and conditions of the Loan Agreement.

At the hearing on September 23, 1985, the testimony of Jack R. Taylor, FCX’s President and General Manager, Robert L. Wilcox, FCX’s Vice President for Operations, and Robert H. Lyford, FCX’s Vice President, Treasurer, and Chief Financial Officer, verified the representations previously made by counsel for the debtor and counsel for the Bank at the ex parte hearing on September 18, 1985. Based on the evidence presented, the court found that continued operation of FCX was necessary for an effective reorganization of the debt- or and to preserve asset values for the benefit of creditors. Furthermore, the court found, based on the testimony of Mr. Taylor and Mr. Lyford, that the debtor was unable to obtain financing, given the time constraints within which it was needed, un *838 less the lender received the super priority provided in 11 U.S.C. § 364(c)(1), and unless the lender was given a lien on all of the debtor’s assets.

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Bluebook (online)
54 B.R. 833, 1985 Bankr. LEXIS 4980, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-fcx-inc-nceb-1985.